As promised to backers and myself this is going to be my write up of the “bigger buy in tournies” ive played recently.
Leeds Coral British Masters Poker Tour
Travelled down on the Friday with Buzz, JB Dawggg and Shedale(Jamie Dale for all those who dont know him by his alias. First game of the world cup was on so we had a few cans before deciding to watch the second half at the pub and get some food. Me and Buzz obv shared a epic combo starter and then continued to watch the match. Bomber decides that we should play a drinking game being taht me and Buzz pick a team playing atm (Mexico vs South Africa was on at the time) and they have the other team. The first team to score gets owed a round from the oposing team. Me and Buzz obv pick Mexico and 30 seconds later shabalalalalalalallalalalalalalalala smashes a ball top bin for South Africa. We end up equalising but that basically started a long night of drinkign and good times.
Saturday morning comes and for some reason none of us could sleep apart from JD. Me, Buzz and bomber are sat downstairs at 6am hungover and feeling worse for wear. We all get over our hangovers after a few Lucozades and Monsters are thrown down our necks and are all ready to go grind out a TGi`s before winning the tournament.
I get dealt in Table 1 Seat 1 but as expected with a £500 tournament the dealer was already there waiting. From what I could see I had a reasonably easy table after seeing the first half an hour in which I played no hands and watched Steve Holden smash every board in the face. We were joined by Fan Cao I think his name is, a guy that Sensh had runnings with in the weekend befores DTD £300 game. Ive been told hes very agro and agreesive and as he played the first 6 hands I could confirm this with myself.
Key Hand 1
Fan Cao raises from the co and I look down at K10hh so I decide to peel as I know ive got position on this laggy player and Im pretty sure the blinds who were both tards are going to come along too. The flop comes a dry meager 393r. Fan bets out 450 into about 800 and I decide that hes not got any of that and to raise him. Befoer I raised I full expected him to call and check the turn as Id seen him do it early and then fold the turn. So I decide Ill make it pretty big to get value from my “bluff”. I raise to 1750 the blind get out of the way and he flats as expected. The turn comes a 9 bringing a heart draw. He checks as according to plana and I bet out 2525. He tank calls which like I said early in the hand description wasnt part of the plan. But thats ok decided I could re-evaluate after seeing the river. River comes down the Jc. He checks and I have a think before deciding to not bluff shove my remaining stack into a self inflated pot. He waits for me to show him King high before revealing JJ for the nut full house. Im pretty sure hes never going to fold unless a Ace hits on the river and even then I still think I can squeeze a call out of him so even though I lost this pot and half my stack I dont think I played it terribly and everything I did in the hand was thought out and planned.
Key Hand 2
Im in the big blind for 100 and theres 7 limpers…I look down at AQhh and decide that Ive got 4k and if they want to see a flop thats how much its going to cost. I was happy to flip for a double up at this stage because it gave me the oppurtunity to cash in on the laggy players on the table. I get 6 folds and then Fan Cao on the small blind thinks for about 3-4 minutes counting his stack before making a call for 1/4 of his stack with K9dd. Very surprised at the call I say gl and stand up to await the flop. AQ10 2 diamonds snapped down from the dealer. FML ive never been so annoyed to flop top 2 in my life. The turn came the 4 of diamonds and I turn round to Buzz to tell him whats happened. I turn round to see the Ace of Clubs land on the river and Im doubled and back in the game!
Key Hand 3
Im in the big blind at 75/150 and I look down at QQ. UTG to my surprise who had been pretty passive raised it up to 500. Gets back round to me and I decide that I want to reraise to see where Im at and as hes pretty bad Im going to get value out of all his set mines and AJ+. I make it 1750 and he calls. The flop comes AQ3 and I hit middle set. I think for about 3 minutes and fiddle with my chips counting out 3 different bets before spazzing my stack out and knocking it over intentially. I eventually check and he doesnt btie checking behind. The turn brings a random 8 and I think for a few minutes again before deciding that he could have 99/TT/JJ and is obviously scared of the board. But also decide that he isnt checking twice to let me catch. I check and he fires 2k. I tank raise to 5k and he insta flats. This got me a little bit worried at the speed of which he flat called. The river paired the board with the 3 and I decide me if hes got AA then ive been coolered and Im going broke. I Value bet 4k and he insta passes. Later telling me he had JJ.
Key Hand 4
With ym stack at around 18k after losing a few minor pots with suited connectors/pairs. A nit raises my big blind to 500 which gets flatted by Ash Hussain. Me and Ash have background and have been going tit for tat as soon as he arrived at the table. I decided to flat with 45dd. The flop comes J79 all diamonds and I flop a flush. I check as does the original raiser and ash leads out for 700. I tank for a little bit and mess my chips up again and eventual raise to 3.6k. Original raiser passes and Ash thinks for a bit before making it 8k. I then shove and he goes meh I have to call now and does so with 77 for bottom set. No sooner do I have all my chips in the middle am I drawing dead as the Jc comes on the turn sealing my fate. So I ended up losing which was probably at the time a chip leader pot even though reports state I had 3k total in the hand.
I dont think I played bad this tournament infact I think I played quite well and realised that the bigger buy in games do not mean a higher standard of play as I thought I was better then 90% of my table. Id liek to congratulate again Ross Johnson on going on and winning the overall event. Well deserved.
GUKPT £200 side Event.
Arrive at the G with Bomber and Rubes. Its a bit quiet as I had expected as I dont think the festival will be a big hit with other festivals and vegas etc happening. Iget drawn on a decent table with local players Hamid Jnr, CT Law, Rubes and Alex Jobling. Thins dont really start well as I brick with AK and about 4 pairs.
Key Hand 1
Guy on the table is playing every single pot hes limping in and calling every raise so he limps and I look down and see 77 on the button. I decide I dont want to infalte the pot because hes calling and his range is so wide and WILL call you down with any pair. The flop comes a sweet JK7r. It gets checked to me and I pot it. Limper guy obviously calls as expected as which is why I bet so big. Turn comes the Qc. He leads out for 500 and I immediatly put him on q10. He had been raising pretty much any broadway pair no matetr of overcards and I totally eliminate A10 and if he has it I had decided I was going to go broke. I raise his 500 to 2750 and he calls. The river comes Ah which obviously I despise and he checks to me. I check behind and he goes “STRAIGHT! How dont you bet son?” I wont comment on ym thoughts about this but all I will say is that this guy went on to win the tournament.He had Q10 btw.
Key Hand 2
After raising and still being pretty agreesive but bricking everything Ive narrowed my stack down to 3k. I raise utg with 99 and get flatted and squeezed by Hamid. With my stack I know hes probs not doing this light but I cant pass here I decide and I shove and he calls. He has KK. I turn a 9 and get doubled up.
Key Hand 3
In my big blind 5 people limp and I look down at 108. I check and the flop comes a kind 1083 2 diamonds. I pot it as my mate is in the pot (Mr Straight from hand 1). He calls and everyone else passes. The turn comes an offsuit Q and i dont really like it but I still decide Im losing value from my hand if he has a random 10 or Q by not betting. I pot it and he flats again. The river comes a 3 and pairs the board. I hate this and check he bets 800 and I call. He announces just a Q and he tell him he rivered me showing him my 108. He shows Q9dd for flush draws and gutshots on the flop. Maybe if he hadnt of been so passive we would of gotten it in on the flop but I suppose that would have been me on the rail a few hands early.
Key Hand 4
2 people limp at 50/100 and Rubes makes it 400 to go from mid position. I look down at Q10hh after one caller to the raise and decide to flat outta my 3.7k stack as I know im going to get 4/5-1 at least. I do get my huge odds to call and the flop lays down Q56 2 diamonds. Gets checked to Mr Straight and he bets 500, folded to me and I decide he can do this with anything and I can probs value shove vs this guy. I shove and it gets folded round to CT Law who tank calls as does my mate. the 9h on the turn is a meh safish card unless the old 78 is kicking about. CT Law then bets 3k into a dry side pot which gets called by Mr straight after a good 3 minutes think. The river came the 6c and the flush bricked out. CT Law bet 5k into the side pot and the guy said the mortal words of “Aye go on then”. He showed QJ, CT Law showed K9dd and was trying to unbeknowingly do me a favour which should probably have worked if it was against anyone else.
I decided not to play the GUKPT Main Event as I was low on confidence and although I didnt think Id played that bad in the other events I feel that because I wasnt taking the dead money off the tards I was just going to be donating. They were my feelings at the time. In reflection I regret not playing the event and now wish I had of.
Yo JB fans,
Just writing a round up of how the last month went in regards to my pokers. In my last post I said that one of my aims this summer was to record my first 4 figure score and two days after that post I took down the $3 rebuy on full tilt for $3.3k. After forking out 15% to Samj and Rubes each I was left with 2.4k of which I withdrew 1.4k to pay for student house. The next day I made my first trip to Dusk till Dawn which was awesome except I played rubbish in the tournament, probably still on a adrenaline rush from my bink but I owned at the cash table and left Nottingham £140 to the good. At the time I was playing 20NL for Lundy but I quickly realised it wasn’t for me as cash on Ipoker is very tough to beat and tbh I didn’t have the patience to grind such small stakes. I therefore decided I would use new found roll to grind sngs and small stakes mtts. At the time I had played poker all day every day for like 2-3 weeks and after a terrible session at Circus I said I was going to take a month off to concentrate on other things so I withdrew all my roll to stop me from being tempted to play. On 6th June, within a week of starting my break, I had deposited $550 on stars and started grinding the $4 180 mans after Mark Trett advised me to do so. I lost on day 1 and then on day 2 I won my first one and from there I haven’t looked back. My graph takes a dip in the middle as for some reason I wanted to get to silver star status as quick as possible so 20 tabled the 9mans….obviously not going to show a good ROI there. Needless to say I made silver star but now have no idea why I wanted to get there so badly. I had a good couple of days between 20th-21st as I finally took my bankroll above the 1k mark with 4 180 man final tables, winning one, aswell as countless number of min cashes.
In the middle of this 2 week grind was the Leeds British Masters £550 main event. Me, Buzz, Jamie Dale and Samj travelled down on the Friday and stayed at mine all weekend which turned out to be a very messy, drunk, sleep deprived, poor poker few days. Jamie made it to day 2 and Roscopiko won it, so well done the NPF again!! As for my tournament I was pretty happy with the way I played and think I controlled the table along with another NPF’er Philn…that was until the sicko that is Jamie Dale sat at our table and he took the captain’s armband! I 4bet jam with AK and manage to get QQ to fold and a few orbits later I 4bet jam with AK again against the same opponent and this time he finds the call with 1010…no help for me and I hit the rail in about 40th place. Disappointing first big live game for me!
So after that it was back to the grind again of the $4 180s and I managed to get my roll to about 1.2k before being lazy and not playing due to world cup and railing my sister’s boyfriend Rubes who decided that this month he would just crush the online world. With his new found monies he decided to stake me into the GUKPT side event for £220. I was drawn a pretty tough starting table and midway through day 1 I was out of my seat, tapped the table, told everyone good luck and heading towards the bar only to see myself go runner-runner to cripple Dave Maudlin and double up. Poker is a funny old game as within about 10 hands I went from short stack to chip leader with a nice little card rush. I made it to day two and went into the final table 4th in chips. The day of the final table I made sure I had my standard ‘Champions Breakfast’ (basically a huge fry up that makes you win) and headed to the G with Rubes. I started the final table really well and got quite active early on and was soon chip leader. Once the bubble had burst my chip stack was very up and down but won a huge pot with 88 vs Swampy’s AQ to regain the chip lead and send Swampy to the rail. Fellow Sensation Buzz was eliminated in 4th place and at this point with chips pretty even we decided that the 3 of us would take 2.2k each and play on for an extra £300, the trophy and the seat at the Champion of Champions event. Throughout the final table Dom Mahogny and I had some great battles and I really enjoyed the competition. He was by far my toughest opponent and I made him fold the best hand a numerous amount of times throughout the day. He told me after I was his toughest opponent aswell which is always nice to hear. I was eliminated in 3rd place after I shove my last 10bbs with A7 only to run into AK. At first I was gutted not to win as I really wanted the trophy and the seat but once I had that wedge in my hand, my frown soon started to turn into a smile.
The next day was the Main Event and it was a horrid time for me. Once again I was sat at by far the toughest table and I was put in so many tough spots early on and I lost a huge cooler for most my stack with a set of 10s vs a flopped two pair and flopped straight. I got away from it but still at a cost. After that I was down to 2.8k and managed to rebuild it to about 6k by finding good spots to shove. However, Chris woods to my right was opening every single unopened pot with his monster stack from the CO so when he did it again and I looked down at A9 I decided to make a stand and this time he obviously has AK and I was out. I was disappointed that I couldn’t repay any of my backers but couldn’t complain as I played really well. It was off to the bar to start on the drink and I had a good drinking partner in Roscopiko as we railed Buzz towards back to back GUKPT final tables.
Since then I haven’t really grinded as had to go and move into my new student house down Leeds but this week I am going to play exclusively on Full Tilt and grind the $12 135 man Rush SNGs and hopefully be able to withdraw a nice sum come Sunday. I am playing the Club Championships on Saturday which hopefully will have a lot of NPF presence. In the next month I hope I can get my Stars roll to round the 1.5k mark but also continue as I have been doing so to study the game by watching training videos and doing sweat sessions etc.
Junior Bomber’s Quick Shout outs- Alex Joblin is playing better than ever and has been helping me with my game. He is due a big score soon, you heard it here first.
Buzz- The Love of my life. Again with back to back GUKPT final table it won’t be long before he is recording another win.
Rubes and Jamie Dale- Total sick month for these two and I am very grateful to Rubes for staking me into events I could otherwise not afford.
Team Full Trett Poker- For being unbelievable crack in Leeds during the England game!!
Sorry this was so long, thanks for reading JB fans
thought id have a little brag to say i am going on holiday 2moro for just under a week, to a place just outside of benidorm, not exactly the ritz or laz vegas but the weather will be hot and the beer will be cool. Going will my old man and some of his friends/family friends with whom i spent a lot of time with growing up but i havnt really seen much of the last couple of years mainly due to poker. Its also strange that my old man had a stroke around 15 months ago, and since then i actualy get on with him 10x better than i used too. So i am actualy really looking forward to the holiday.
I also have to say that tomorow will be the first time i have a day without doing anything poker related since i went to amsterdam last August (evewn then i was with J10BLN so still discussed poker a bit). A lot has happend to me with poker since then, and i would say iv probably played 99% of the days since then, and searched forums/watched poker on pokertube every day since then. At time i despise poker, at times i love it, but ultimetly its been poker over the last 12 months that means i can afford holidays and to eat good food etc etc i wouldnt exactly say i am the most balla person around but i have a pretty easy life at the moment with not having to work, but somehow still got enough money to do things that many my age cannot have this luxury.
It will be wierd not having poker (or a computer for that matter) for 6 consectutive days, but im sure that i will manage without it and have fun!!
After Bomber`s inspirational blog post I decided that Ive been letting the team and more importantly Skippa down a little bit with my lack of blog updates etc. Not sure what I can make an overall subject of this entry about so im going to mangle a view things into one. Firstly Im now working. I`m dealing pokers at aspers on a regular basis clocking up to 40-50 hours per week there, guarenteed money instead of the rollercoaster that is playing poker for your moneys is great but long, unsociable hours are a massive sigh on things. Dont get me wrong I like it when I am there its the things like I get in and I have to go to sleep and then sleep all day in preparation for the next nights work. It does however give me a chance to play the bigger games with more of a percentage in myself for instance im playing the £500 Leeds Gala Main event in June and the main and £200 event in the Summer Series at the Newcastle “g”.
Poker for me personally in the past few months has been a bit of a rollercoaster. $900 dollar upswings on 45 mans on Full Tilt then 3 session of 9 with no cash causing me to tilt enter MTTs which is never a brilliant idea. Upswings always followed by downswings and the downswing came in the form of 1.2geeeeees. But we are back on the up and crushing the 45 mans again aswell as binking a small 6 max mtt on tilt last night with alot of help from Andy Carlin for $400 dollars. Basically meaning we both freeroll Dusk til Dawn this weekend.
Massive well played has to go out to the Skippa for his epic performance in the DTD leg of the UKIPT. Being a card rack helps and you think the game is easy but its when you have to grind it out for a whole 8 hour day to make it to the next day is where it counts. Papa did this like a pro and was unlucky to run hand into hand on the final table. Next time mate, next time. A plus from this is that Gaz has told me that a Landmark + Strippers night is instore for the sensations…. ship!
Aswell as Gaz achieving highly the team rocked the NPF UK Team Challenge recently. I was devastated that I couldnt play because of work and anyone that knows me or I had contact with I apologise for the constant whinge. All of our players played awesome except for Spoona who is shite. To be fair to the lad he was quite deep into Corona land by the time I got there and that was only at 9pm. So by the time it came to 6am and I was 14 Coronas deep Spoona was a jittering mess. Just like to mention the Conversation that made my weekend was between Alison Macree and Steve Brennan known as Mr and Mrs Fatfish on the forum and it went a little bit like this…
AM: Steve can we have sex tonight?
SB: Aye suppose like, but only if I get some chicken.
This might not seem funny to others but had me on the floor. I think it was the circumstances that were funny as it was 5.30 in the morning and everyone was so heavily intoxicated.
Anyway enough jibbering Im sure your bored as Ive noticed my sarcastic stlye of writing isnt as voiced in this post as it is in others. Dusk til Dawn this weekend for the “Super 50″ hopefully bink this and set me up for the summer.
Ty for reading.
x
I have been playing poker seriously for exactly a year now, by seriously I mean playing online, in casinos and learning the game rather than just playing between friends. I have a had a profitable first year in poker but the money won is not half as important as the things I have learnt, the friends I have made and the opportunities I have been given.
Last summer my poker education first began with Sam J taking me to the G on regularly occasions for cash games and the odd tourney. The excuses I had to use to hide my activity from my Mam soon ran out and Sam was in her bad books. I can’t believe how naive I was to the poker world, things like Bankroll management, EV, pot odds etc were unheard of to me but once I joined the NPF, you learn these things quickly with so many people willing to help. I feel this is the most important thing to mine or anyone else’s poker development, simply talking to other players about poker, certain hands and aspects of the game.
I owe a lot to the NPF. Not just for developing my game but for the opportunities it has given me. I was given the opportunity to do the first forum $500-$1500 challenge and I had a really tough, depressing time as I failed miserably and it still annoys me as I know I did everything wrong. That month though, taught me so much about my game and is probably the catalyst towards how much my game has improved today. I have been able to play in the forum games which are absolutely flawless and brilliant to play in. My first forum game was the 2nd Annual NPF Championships, which I finished 3rd in beating a tough 100 strong field. That was the first time people began to recognise JuniorBomber and realise that I could play this game rather than just flop like I did the previous month.
Gaz Walker despite not knowing me too well, took a shot and signed me up to the Sensations and I am deeply grateful for it. We are such a close team and love it when we can pull on the black and yellow threads and do Papa proud. What is a Sensation? A sensation is a young(sorry Radgies), loyal (sorry cubs) poker player that likes to win but balances that with a desire for fun and first class banter with the ability to provide the best rail the poker world has ever seen. Oh and a Sensation takes their shoes off, because they love Skipper! The highlight of my first year in poker was definitely winning the recent UK Forum Team Championships. The whole weekend was superb and the Sensations as ever supported our lads and the forum lads (except the Dobbas) till the very end. The fierce rivalry between the Sensations and the Dobba’s is great for team games and both sets of teams I know ,have great respect for each other and like to see opposition members doing well!
The friends I have made in this first year through poker have been fantastic. The Sensations especially Buzz, IrishAndy, SamJ and Spoona who have really helped me out in terms of my game and just with the poker world in general. Farmer Dave for just having first class banter and a genuinely nice guy who has worked wonders in the NPF in recent months. Outside of the Sensations, my love for Aryan Virabi is unconditional.
Although I am far from being a great player with many players a lot better than me, next month sees me play 3 big tournaments thanks to people having the belief that I am a good investment and buying %’s of me, I hope I can repay them. A shout-out to Jon Lundy and Milo (my hero) who are absolute sickos and support me by staking me and helping me with my game. I hope to progress in the next year from 6max cash 20nl to 50nl and eventually 100nl whilst playing for Lundy. I also aim to get my first four figure MTT score and then add a few more!
Exciting times to come in this next 12 months with the following:
First trip to DTD- 22nd May
Coral British Masters Leeds- 12th June
GUKPT side event- 24th June
GUKPT Summer Series Main Event- 26th June
IPO- 14th October
First trip to VEGGGGGASSSSSSSSSSSS- June
Thanks for reading
JuniorBomber
Well not quite accurate, but this weekend saw our very own Papa Skipper Walker live up to the rest of his name and Shipped £7.6k for 8th place in Pokerstars UKIPT at DTD Nottingham.
A Huge achievement from our inspirational leader, who played absolutely out of his skin, and with a few more hands on the FT could have placed higher, he was playing so well.
We are all so proud of Skip, he backed us from day 1, and this time we were all able to get behind him, great score skip, great practice for vegas…Awesome work!
Today saw the finest poker team named the greatest poker team in the UK with a victory in the NPF Forum team Championship.
A few players played their balls off over the two days, all played their part, but special mention to Andrizu who played very good poker and pointed up, Keet who did exactly the same, Irish Andy who was comfprtable in the points only to get bummed, but played perfect poker, Buzz who should have been on 200k at one point but suffered 3 really bad beats and still ran very deep to be busted with QQ against 88…..But a huge well donw to Stevie Sensation himself. This lad dominated the tourney and was unlucky with seating draw imo on the final table, otherwise he takes it down, saw some awesoem poker from him, and his 5th out of 190 was truely great.
2010 champions……
WALKERS SENSATIONS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Right, Afternoon All;
I have recieved the sensation hoodies this morning, however from the 8 ordered, we only got 6 as the L ones we ordered arent in stock till the 22nd, anyway just for a reminder i wanted to see who ordered one, so far i have
S-Bomber………..Paid
S-Irish Andy
S-Milo………Paid
L-Spoona……..Paid
L-Harrison
XL-Me………Paid
XL-?
XXL-Buzzzzzz…..Paid
Also i know Dom had Paid, and not sure what Size he ordered, but will reorder asap. Those who need to pay, and those who want one, please let me know asap…..
Sensh
SamJ are the two i’m sure who wanted one, people let me know sizes etc, need to get these ready by team game
done my nuts in poker/life the last few months and it sucks. Atleast i still have my super slim sexy figure though, that is the main thing…
thats it really
Hey,
I thought id give a quick update on my targets for the year, basically i have just recently changed from Full Tilt to pokerstars.
As a SNG player i feel that the best deal is on pokerstars, the weekly SNG leaderboard and the challenge of getting Supernova by end of the year are targets and goals i need to keep me motivated to continue to play, even when running bad.
I have set table Ninja up to ensure i can easy play 15 tables+ i aim to play between 45-60 SNGs per day, at $10 a shot.
I tried the NPF $500-$1.5k challenge this month, i had one good day and then it went really bad from then on. I have pretty much given up on the challenge as i have no motivation to keep playing, as i have no financial reward and no real incentive as i know from the position i am in now it is impossible to reach.
I know on any given month making $1k online is very possible, and hopefully i can prove this, ill keep the blog updated with my stars effort to supernova and topping any leaderboards.
Love Spoona
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